Greg Lansky
{{short description|French adult film entrepreneur (born 1982)}}
{{pp-pc}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image = Greg Lansky 2016 by Glenn Francis.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1982|12|12}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| citizenship = American
| occupation = Artist, entrepreneur, investor
| years_active = 2005–present
| known_for = Founder of Vixen Media Group
| awards = AVN Director of the Year
XRCO Best Web Director
| website = {{URL|greglansky.com}}
}}
Greg Lansky (born December 12, 1982) is a French artist, entrepreneur, and investor based in the United States. He has directed and produced a number of adult films he describes as art. Lansky was a founder and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vixen Media Group, one of the largest companies in the adult entertainment business, from its establishment in 2014 until January 2020 when he sold his full stake in the business.{{cite web |title=I Spent The Day With An Adult Entertainment Company |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFwCdFx5Z8M |website=YouTube |access-date=21 December 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.xbiz.com/news/195853|title=Q&A: Director Greg Lansky Discusses BLACKED.com, Career|last=XBIZ|publisher=|access-date=4 June 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Peter |title=Greg Lansky Sells Stake in Vixen Media Group AVN |url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/greg-lansky-sells-stake-in-vixen-media-group-861428.html |access-date=17 January 2020 |work=AVN |date=2020-01-14}} In 2022, Lansky released the sculpture "Algorithmic Beauty".
Biography
Lansky was born on December 12, 1982, in Paris, France.{{cite web |title=How One Pornographer Is Trying To Elevate Porn To Art |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2017/07/20/pornographer-greg-lansky-interview/#328ec4a46593 |website=Forbes |access-date=19 November 2018}} He has Algerian-Jewish heritage.{{cite news |title=Artful Porn and anti-Semitic Threats: The Man Behind the "HBO of Adult Films' Bares All |url=https://www.haaretz.com/life/film/.premium.MAGAZINE-artful-porn-and-anti-semitic-threats-meet-the-man-behind-the-hbo-of-adult-films-1.8127773 |website=Haaretz |access-date=16 December 2019}} Lansky attended marketing school in Paris and worked for various TV networks. After dropping out of school, he briefly worked in television production in Paris and interned with a production company that produced reality TV shows. Shortly after he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career.{{cite web |title=Kanye West's Favorite Pornographer Is A Master of SFW Marketing |url=https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/sfw-pornographer/314604 |website=AdAge |date=17 August 2018 |access-date=16 December 2019}}
Business ventures
In 2005, Lansky moved from Paris to Los Angeles and started working in adult entertainment industry. In 2006, Lansky was given a directorial contract. Lansky went on to direct many titles for New Sensations/Digital Sin until 2007. Lansky opened his production company and began directing and producing for the web-based adult network Reality Kings. Lansky stopped working for Reality Kings in 2014 to concentrate on creating his own company.
In 2014, Lansky founded Vixen Media Group and established its suite of award-winning studios: Vixen, Blacked, and Tushy.{{cite web |title=Lansky Inc. — Meet the Man Who Made Himself A Brand |url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/lansky-inc-meet-the-man-who-made-himself-a-brand-790493.html |website=AVN |access-date=9 August 2018}} In 2018, Lansky transitioned into running his company and producing rather than directing.
Rolling Stone profiled Lansky and his "adult entertainment empire," and Ad Age called him "a master of SFW marketing."{{cite magazine |title=Versace, Champagne and Gold: Meet the Director Turning Porn Into High Art |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/versace-champagne-and-gold-meet-the-director-turning-porn-into-high-art-629908/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=5 April 2018 |access-date=21 December 2019}}{{cite web |title=KANYE WEST'S FAVORITE PORNOGRAPHER IS A MASTER OF SFW MARKETING |url=https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/sfw-pornographer/314604/ |website=AdAge |date=17 August 2018 |access-date=19 November 2018}} Kanye West revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that his favorite porn website was Lansky's Blacked. Lansky offered West the opportunity to direct an adult film, and the pair were photographed together backstage at the 2018 Pornhub Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.complex.com/music/2018/08/kanye-west-reportedly-offered-full-artistic-control-direct-adult-film|title=Kanye West Reportedly Offered 'Full Artistic Control' to Direct Adult Film|publisher=Complex|author=Victoria Johnson|date=August 11, 2018}} Several hip hop artists have shown association with Lansky and his brands including Post Malone, Lil Pump and Trippie Redd.{{Cite web|url=https://views.fr/2018/01/25/post-malone-se-deplace-las-vegas-hummer-militaire-aller-a-salon-porno/|title=Post Malone se déplace dans Las Vegas en hummer militaire pour aller à un salon du porno|publisher=Views|author=Julien Perocheau|date=25 January 2018|language=FR}}
He sold his stake in Vixen Media Group in January 2020 to pursue other business ventures.
In 2022, Lansky began releasing artwork online. In an ode to the Venus de Milo, "Algorithmic Beauty" is a six-foot eight-inch marble sculpture of a nude woman "covered in plastic-surgery scars, cellulite ripples across her posterior" holding up a mobile phone. His works have been considered divisive with some critics recognizing the insight into modern culture and the dark side of technology, while others dismiss it as superficial, crass and failing to make any substantial contribution to the discourse.{{Cite web |title=Greg Lansky: the artist with a scandalous past |url=https://thespectator.com/book-and-art/greg-lansky-artist-scandalous-vixen/ |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=The Spectator World |date=27 February 2023 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Goforth |first=Claire |date=2023-02-23 |title='Big Honkers Venus de Milo': People divided over former pornographer's modern recreation of famous statue |url=https://www.dailydot.com/debug/venus-de-milo-statue-algorithmic-beauty-greg-lansky/ |access-date=2023-03-01 |website=The Daily Dot |language=en-US}}
Recognition
File:Greg Lansky at the 2016 AVN Awards in Las Vegas, NV.JPG
Lansky has been compared to Hugh Hefner and is credited with having "elevated the [adult] business as a whole."{{cite web |title=Jerking Off to Capitalism: The 1 Percent Fantasies of Greg Lansky's Vixen |url=https://jezebel.com/jerking-off-to-capitalism-the-1-percent-fantasies-of-g-1829976586 |website=Jezebel |date=9 January 2019 |access-date=21 December 2019}} He was called "the most-pirated man in porn," and the movies his company produced are "some of the most-watched adult film content in the world."{{cite web |title=The Most-Pirated Man in Porn Is Getting Angry Adult film director Greg Lansky sends 50,000 takedown notices a month. |url=https://www.inverse.com/article/31350-greg-lansky-tushy-blacked-vixen-interview |website=Inverse |date=24 May 2017 |access-date=21 December 2019}} Lansky has been referred to as "The Spielberg of Porn" and his Instagram was called "the most NSFW" profile of all time by GQ France.{{cite news |title=Meet the Man-Making Porn Great Again |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/meet-the-man-making-porn-great-again |website=The Daily Beast |date=18 February 2017 |access-date=6 June 2018|last1=Snow |first1=Aurora }}{{cite web |title=Dans sa bio Instagram, Greg Lansky se décrit comme "CEO & Artist". Son œuvre se compose majoritairement de seins et de fesses. |url=https://www.gqmagazine.fr/sexe/news/articles/cet-homme-a-le-compte-instagram-le-plus-nsfw-de-lhistoire-de-lhumanite/58731 |website=GQ France |access-date=6 June 2018 |archive-date=24 August 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190824003646/https://www.gqmagazine.fr/sexe/news/articles/cet-homme-a-le-compte-instagram-le-plus-nsfw-de-lhistoire-de-lhumanite/58731 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title='Steven Spielberg of porn': Stop stealing my adult films |url=https://nypost.com/2017/12/02/steven-spielberg-of-porn-stop-stealing-my-adult-films/ |website=The New York Post |date=3 December 2017 |access-date=6 June 2018}}
=Awards=
During the 2018 AVN Awards, Lansky became the second man in history to ever win AVN Director of the Year three consecutive times.{{cite web|title=2018 AVN Awards Show Dazzles in Vegas|url=https://avn.com/business/articles/video/2018-avn-awards-761266.html|website=AVN|access-date=23 May 2018}}{{cite web|title=Sex, Death, and Social Media at the Annual Porn Awards|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/sex-death-and-social-media-at-the-annual-porn-awards/|website=Vice|date=February 2018 |access-date=23 May 2018}}
- Best Web Director – XRCO Award – 2014{{cite web|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/video/30th-Annual-XRCO-Awards-Takes-It-Back-Home-556934.html|title=30th Annual XRCO Awards Takes It Back Home - AVN|first=Peter Warren|last=AVN|website=AVN|access-date=4 June 2018|archive-date=3 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103121231/http://business.avn.com/articles/video/30th-Annual-XRCO-Awards-Takes-It-Back-Home-556934.html|url-status=dead}}
- Best Web Director – XRCO Award – 2015{{cite web|url=http://business.avn.com/articles/video/XRCO-Announces-Winners-of-2015-Awards-593755.html|title=XRCO Announces Winners of 2015 Awards - AVN|first=Peter Warren|last=AVN|website=AVN|access-date=4 June 2018|archive-date=10 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310185421/http://business.avn.com/articles/video/XRCO-Announces-Winners-of-2015-Awards-593755.html|url-status=dead}}
- Best Director – XRCO Award – 2016
- Best Release – XRCO Award – 2016
- Best Cinematography – AVN Awards – 2016{{Cite web|title = 2016 AVN Awards|url = http://avnawards.avn.com/winners|website = 2016 AVN Awards|access-date = 2016-01-26|language = en-US|archive-date = 2016-11-28|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161128025847/http://avnawards.avn.com/winners/|url-status = dead}}
- Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2016
- Best Director – NightMoves Award – 2016 (Editor's Choice)
- Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2017
- Best Director – Non-Feature AVN Awards – 2017
- Best Marketing Campaign AVN Awards – 2017{{cite web|title=2017 AVN Awards|url=https://avn.com/awards/winners?/winners |website=2017 AVN Awards|access-date=2017-01-26}}
- Director of the Year – Body of Work 2017 XBIZ Award
- Best new Studio: Vixen – DVDEROTIK Awards – 2017{{cite web|url=http://www.dvderotik.com/blog/en/dvderotik-award-gewinner-2017/|title=2017 DVDEROTIK Award Winner|date=April 2017}}
- Director of the Year – AVN Awards – 2018
References
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External links
- {{official website}}
- {{IMDb name}}
- {{IAFD name|greglansky}}
- [http://business.avn.com/articles/video/Greg-Lansky-Talks-Tushy-Blacked-Momentum-633800.html Greg Lansky Business AVN]
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Category:French people of Algerian-Jewish descent
Category:French pornographic film directors